From draglines to rock crushers, the mining industry utilizes a variety of massive machines. After all, mining involves rather large projects and processes as well. To break down the rock-solid materials we extract from the Earth, the mining industry requires powerful machines to help them do it.
You can imagine that the operation of such equipment creates large amounts of force in the process. Impact shock in mining equipment is commonplace. If left untreated or unaddressed, impact shock can lead to negative consequences for mining equipment down the line. As the mining industry fuels the world with raw materials and resources, it’s essential mining equipment be protected from impact shock.
Yet, even the biggest mining equipment requires reliable, resilient solutions to reduce the affects of impact shock. Below, we discuss the ways in which impact shock alters mining equipment, how to protect mining equipment and solutions to allow your mining business to operate without delay.
What is Impact Shock?
To understand how impact shock affects mining equipment, let’s first break down what it is and how you can identify it in mining equipment. While impact and shock differ in definition, the two are certainly intertwined.
For example, shock is a sudden acceleration caused by a significant force, such as impact. On the contrary, impact is a high force, or shock, applied over a short period of time when two or more bodies collide. As you might imagine, shock occurs under several different conditions.
Events that create shock include explosions, earthquakes, drops and other forms of impact. Say you throw a bowling ball off the top of a tall building. When the ball reaches the ground below you, impact occurs between the bowling ball and the ground. Upon impact, shock reverberates from the force of the bowling ball making intense contact with the ground.
Now, let’s apply this knowledge to mining equipment to highlight what impact shock looks like in mining equipment.
How Impact Shock Affects Mining Equipment
Heavy-duty mining equipment such as rock crushers and grizzly bars are affected by impact shock regularly. Under the weight of large rocks, mining equipment undergoes significant force when in use. The impact shock forces generated by the process of breaking down rocks and minerals are significant.
Imagine our bowling ball example, as these heavy rocks constantly make impact with rock crushers and grizzly bars, the shock forces may reverberate throughout the rest of the structure. While the only two affected objects in our example are the bowling ball and the ground, the implications of impact shock in mining equipment can lead to other issues throughout the machine.
The impact shock from these heavy rocks generates vibration as a result. For mining equipment, untreated vibration from impact shock leads to equipment damage and maintenance delays. The negative effects of impact shock on mining equipment can prolong these issues, therefore shortening the operation life of these machines. So, how do you protect mining equipment from these forces?
How To Protect Mining Equipment from Impact Shock
Given the sheer size of mining equipment, protecting your machines from impact shock requires a holistic approach to ensure vibration is contained to the areas of impact. While there is no way to reduce the force impact shock generates, there are certainly solutions to limit the amount of vibration that travels throughout the structure.
Through site survey and vibration analysis, we can identify how large these forces are in the first step to developing a protection solution. Through this analysis we can see how great the impact shock is while pointing out points of transmission for vibration to travel throughout the structure. With this data and the construction drawings in hand, you are well on your way to an effective impact shock reduction solution.
After some calculations, you can match your mining equipment with protective materials that are strategically placed throughout the structure to contain vibration. While isolating the point of impact works as well, a complete impact shock reduction system is best to achieve maximum protection and vibration isolation.
With all this in mind, what might these solutions look like?
Fabreeka’s Solutions to Address Impact Shock in Mining Equipment
For well over 50 years, Fabreeka helped mining businesses achieve their impact shock reduction goals to protect and prolong mining equipment. Our resilient, tested, fully customizable impact shock reduction solutions limit vibration and keep your business away from delays and maintenance costs.
Fabreeka® Pad
Our trademark shock and vibration isolation pad provides exceptional shock control for heavy machinery like those used in the mining industry. Developed in 1936, the Fabreeka pad is our original preformed fabric reinforced elastomeric pad. The Fabreeka pad can be developed into washers and bushings to provide a whole-system solution for shock control.
Resilient and reliable the Fabreeka pad is impermeable to most oils and the effects of steam, water, mildew and brine. Moreover, the Fabreeka pad has a relatively high damping rate of 14% of critical while accommodating compressive loads up to 10,000 psi.
The Fabreeka pad prevents cracking and structural damage that becomes commonplace in mining equipment that deals with such heavy impact shock forces. When used as part of a complete shock control system with bushings and washers, the Fabreeka pad can isolate the entire structure to protect it from long term damage and maintenance delays.
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When impact shock affects your mining equipment, trust that you can turn to Fabreeka to work with you to develop an exceptional solution for shock and vibration control. Our products protect mining equipment and prolong machine life when used as part of a complete system.
Of course, our talented team of engineers work directly with you to offer their full range of services to develop a solution in the process. When we work together, we can help you continue to break new ground and fuel the world with the raw materials it needs to keep business turning.
If you enjoyed this article and would like to learn more about our work in the mining industry check out the Fabreeka Impact Blog for articles like “How To Reduce Impact Shock In Lithium Mining For a Sustainable Future.”
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